The £350,000-a-week midfielder is enduring a nightmare season after being frozen out by Gunners boss Mikel Arteta and looks to be on his way out of the north London club.
His year could have gone from bad to worse as he faced a possible driving ban. However, a magistrate opted to give Özil penalty points and a fine instead of taking away his licence.
“When attempting to rationalise my actions, I believe it was the combination of the empty road, with no other vehicles to gauge my speed against, and the misapprehension that I was travelling in kmph rather than mph,” the 32-year-old wrote to Bromley magistrates’ court.
Özil, a German national, was clocked at 97mph in his Mercedes G-Class on the southbound carriageway of the M1 just before 11.50am on July 2.
In a lengthy explanation, he said he was only planning a short drive from training back to his £10 million Highgate mansion.
He pleaded guilty to the speeding offence in writing, calling the incident “wholly unacceptable” and accepting that a driving ban of up to 28 days could be imposed.
But he urged the court to spare him as he has a clean licence, admitted the offence straight away and he is a “man of hitherto unblemished character”.
“Might I please urge the court to keep any disqualification period to a minimum as I travel to work on a daily basis by car and have personal commitments and a very young baby daughter,” he wrote.
“In the current climate I would be very much against travelling on public transport with my baby daughter.
“My wife does not drive and therefore by necessity I will have to undertake the driving to any healthcare appointments for my daughter.”
Özil was given six points on his licence and ordered to pay a £1,000 fine, £100 in costs and a £100 court surcharge.
He was not required to attend court as his case was dealt with in a behind-closed-doors Single Justice Procedure hearing last month.
